Planning for Mongol Rally 2019 continues – our Polo is back in Karlsruhe!
Unbelievable…a lot happened during the last weeks and months. A short overview through the eyes of the car:
Close to Hannover, the Polo got a roof rack for the Mongol Rally 2019. Now it is back in Karlsruhe for additional constructions. We had some minor complications… but all’s well that ends well 🙂
The roof rack – an eye catcher!
Here you can see the extraordinary result of the team’s mechanic. Mesi did a good job and constructed a massive, functional yet still beautiful roof rack. “That can carry a ton!”A few strips of flat steel, textured coated boards, a loooot of screws and patience created this master piece. This unicum of mechanic craft shines brighter than the necessary visibility thanks two tins of foundation, two tins of paint and a lot of clearcoat. The finishing touch is provided by lashing eyes and belts which adapt to the total picture.
Our spare tire had to remain in the trunk, its designated spot, due to the German traffic control. The boxes and jerrycans enjoyed an alfresco test run.
Does it already count as “break down” – even BEFORE the rally?
It happened on the journey… The newly mounted exhaust pipe continued to struggle with its by engineers and MOT required position and drowned out the radio “VAG Alpha” with four memory spaces and frequency modulation. At a motorway interchange the exhaust pipe rumbled on the scratchy asphalt which lead to a spontaneous stop to get some fresh air…
(Little stroll on the German Autobahn)
(Note: additional space thanks to the roof rack!)
We had some spare rubbers on board to fix the problem! 🙂
Misfortune never come singly…
Thanks to the brutal speed up, that almost fluted the road surface, we were back to the necessary speed in 30 seconds, to not attract attention by traffic… with a neon green roof rack… packed with aluminum boxes… slowly moving in the wind… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We carefully listened to the combustion engine and watched out for signs of other road users – as long as they could keep up.
One managed to keep up and indicated by headlight flashers and permanent usage of the acoustic signaler that he either wanted to pass or we obviously had a problem with our car.
Preventively, we slammed on the brakes and slowed down to human adequate speed – stop at roadside emergency telephone.
The boxes had indeed leant against the wind so that the eye bended up and the boxes almost landed on the highway.
(Aftercare at the rest area – weakness of the material?)
All’s well that ends well!
Our rocket Polo made it to Baden’s capital and wanted to show us that we should test EVERYTHING.
On the next weekend(s) we are going to change the radio and the speakers. In addition, we have to exchange the undercarriage and the clutch. The excitement remains.
Even former colleagues traced the Polo down at its current habitat…
(Hello guys! 😉 )